


another year flies by

by DesertLily



Series: Whumptober 2020 [7]
Category: The Bifrost Incident - The Mechanisms (Album), The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Cats, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Grief, Homesickness, Hurt/Comfort, Immortal Lyfrassir Edda, Loneliness, Loss, Lyfrassir Edda Joins the Mechanisms, M/M, Mildly eldritch space cat, The Bifrost, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:15:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26866495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertLily/pseuds/DesertLily
Summary: No matter how much time passes, Lyfrassir Edda will always miss home.
Relationships: Lyfrassir Edda/Marius von Raum
Series: Whumptober 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946296
Comments: 6
Kudos: 54
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	another year flies by

**Author's Note:**

> For the 'homesickness' prompt for Whumptober!

There were a lot of things that made somewhere feel like home. Friends. Family.  _ Familiarity.  _ Midgard had held all of that for Lyfrassir Edda. It may not have been the greatest or grandest planet in the Yggdrasil system but it was the one they had been raised on. It was where they had been born; it was where they grew up, and it should have been where they did. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t...anything anymore. Midgard was just a memory that so few people now shared. It had been home but now they could never go back. After all, there was nothing to go back to. 

Just because Yggdrasil was consumed by Yog-Sothoth, it didn’t mean Lyfrassir had to forget it. Lyf still remembered their childhood home. It hadn’t been anywhere spectacular. A two-storey house in the heart of the city. The bottom two stairs always creaked and no one had ever bothered to fix them. There had been three bedrooms. Their mothers’, their sister’s, and their own. Even long after they had moved out, that third bedroom always remained theirs; a reminder that if things ever went wrong then they would always have a home to come back to. The last time they had visited, the walls had been a pale green and cluttered with posters for local bands - a reminder of the exploits of Lyf’s teenage years. The mattress on the bed may have been old and lumpy but it was too familiar for them to bother asking for it to be replaced. It wasn’t often that they took things from their childhood room, perfectly content to leave them behind but on their last visit...something deep inside them had told them to pack the things that meant the most. So family photos got packed, along with posters, an old teddy bear, and some crappy YA novels they had once been obsessed with. There was an old leather jacket that had been a hand-me-down from one of their mothers. Lyfrassir had packed that too. They hadn’t taken it off since they left Midgard. 

If they had known it would be the last time they saw them, Lyfrassir would have spent longer wishing their mothers goodbye. They wouldn’t have complained or whined as much when the two fretted over them, pulling them into hug after hug. At the time, it had seemed annoying but looking back on it...Lyfrassir would do anything for the comfort of their mothers’ embrace. They wished they’d told the two of them how much they meant to Lyf; how much they loved them. They should have done the same to their sister. It hurt too much to say her name or to so much as  _ think _ it so Lyfrassir didn’t. It was always on the tip of their tongue but they hadn’t said it outloud in years. The last time they had seen her had been two days before the arrival of the Ratatosk Express. She had come for a surprise visit and it had been...nice. They had laughed and joked and teased each other. It had been so  _ normal _ . Lyfrassir would have given everything and anything to go back to that normality. But they couldn’t. They would never be able to. 

Lyfrassir wasn’t entirely sure how much they could have called their work colleagues their friends but they got on well enough. They had been good people. They had deserved better than being consumed by the Bifrost. As serious as their job could be, Lyf had known they could always go into the break room and have Hilda ready with a joke to cheer them up or Torsten willing to let them vent about their most recent frustration - usually the three prisoners that refused to cooperate or age. But they were gone now too. They remembered Torsten’s wife had just had twins and he’d been proudly showing off pictures to anyone willing to look. Lyf had been planning on getting some sort of present as congratulations. Not that it mattered anymore. As terrible as it sounded, Lyfrassir hoped Yog-Sothoth had killed them all; had granted them peace rather than an eternity of torment. They all deserved peace. 

The prisoners that refused to age. Von Raum, la Cognizi, and Alexandria.The causes of most of Lyfrassir’s migraines. If anyone bothered to ask, Lyf would insist that they despised the lot of them entirely. But that...wasn’t entirely true. There was no possible way they would ever claim to be friends but there was an understanding; a level of civility only interrupted by Von Raum’s seemingly endless supply of hidden violins. For whatever reason, they seemed to be fond of Lyf - refusing to cooperate if any other inspector so much as dared try to talk to them. Alexandria also made it a habit to point out Lyf’s terrible sleep schedule with what could have been mistaken for concern. There had even been an occasion where the three had  _ broken out of prison _ and found their way to Lyfrassir’s apartment with the excuse that they had heard that  _ their dear inspector _ was sick. If it was anyone else, Lyfrassir would have called it endearing. They were glad to know that the three had escaped safely - even if they had left Lyf behind. 

When they finally realised what was coming, Lyfrassir had rushed to pack as much as they could. All the things from their childhood home got packed, along with supplies and other homely comforts. Clothes, food, water, blankets, toiletries...Everything. They had little time but they were determined to be prepared. But they also packed cat toys and cat food. They may not have been able to save anyone else but they wouldn’t leave Frida behind. Frida was a ragdoll cat they had raised from a kitten. She was Lyf’s most loyal companion. So they kept her with them as they rushed to escape. In the blur of everything, Lyfrassir couldn’t remember how they commandeered the shuttle but they had. They had made their escape. Barely. 

But they did not escape Yggdrasil unscathed. Their ship had been caught in the tail end of the Bifrost - not enough to be drawn back in but enough that neither occupant of the ship remained unscathed. Though, having an immortal mildly-eldritch space cat wasn’t the worst thing in the world. It was comforting really - knowing they would always have Frida by their side; that they would never truly be alone. After all, immortality was unbearably lonely. Any planets they stopped by would only be temporary and any new friends were destined to grow old and die. There was no true permanence in Lyfrassir’s life, and that made them miss Midgard even more.  _ Because that was supposed to have been permanent _ . It had been their home and it wasn’t supposed to be destroyed. It wasn’t supposed to be lost like that. 

Then the oddest thing happened. Lyfrassir was kidnapped. Well, more specifically, their ship was kidnapped by one that was impossibly bigger. As they would soon find out, Von Raum hadn’t been joking when he had said space pirates existed. What was more surprising was that the space pirates that kidnapped them happened to be the  _ exact same crew as the one Von Raum, la Cognizi, and Alexandria  _ belonged to. It was oddly...relieving. After too long to bother counting on their own, Lyfrassir had found something familiar; something that was almost home and they latched onto it. It wasn’t easy attempting to fit in amongst the Mechanisms - particularly after Lyf found out they’d turned the fate of Yggdrasil into an album. Though, there was something rather  _ nice _ about Von Raum singing as Thor. Actually, there was a lot nice about it. 

As they spent longer and longer with the crew, their relationship changed. They grew closer to them all. Von Raum changed to Marius and Lyfrassir found themself growing closest to him out of them all. The two soon became friends then ‘best friends’ perhaps  _ then something that was definitely more than friends _ . The first time Marius had kissed them was during an argument. Lyfrassir no longer remembered what the argument was about but they remembered the first time they felt his lips on theirs and how  _ right _ it had felt. Not to mention that Frida was extremely fond of Marius (along with the many friends she had made amongst the adorable horrors that were octokittens). And if Frida approved then Lyfrassir had no choice but to give in to their feelings. So the two found themselves together. They were a couple - even going on a strange double date with the Aurora and Nastya to cement the fact. 

Lyfrassir still missed Midgard. There were still days where they longed to have a home, going through old photographs. Sometimes, if the mood was right, they’d scare them with Marius too; let him see what Lyf had left behind. This was one such occasion. “I miss it a lot” They whispered. “I miss my family and having a home and just…” 

“I know.” As always, Marius was quick to pull them into a hug, holding Lyfrassir close as their emotions became too much. “It’s okay to miss it.” His voice was gentle; soothing even. “I know it’s not the same but...You have a home, Lyf. You...You have all of us.” 

Lyfrassir was quiet for a few moments. They supposed he was right. Over the years they had spent there, the Aurora had grown to become their home. Just as Midgard once had, it was full of friends, family, and familiarity. In their own fucked up way, the Mechanism probably counted as family. They cared about each other; looked out for each other - even if they did also have the tendency to shoot each other at the drop of a hat. But Marius was right. “I thi- Oh” Before they could offer a response, rainbow coloured fur was stubbornly pushing her way to curl up between Lyfrassir and Marius. Frida. “...I think someone might be jealous we’re cuddling without her.” 

Marius laughed. “Then I suppose we’ll have to amend that.” Keeping one arm wrapped firmly around Lyf, he used the other to gently scratch behind the cat’s ears. Lyfrassir smiled. 

They were home. 

**Author's Note:**

> My favourite part of this is Frida tbh. Comments and kudos are always appreciated! Or hmu @ desert-lily on tumblr!


End file.
